Teamwork

It's "go" time for me. I am in the craziest phase of my job between now and the end of September. Two of the largest events of the year happen in August (Leadership Summit) and September (Innovate). I live and breath the details of these events so that I can ensure they come off without any major glitches. We had our first lead team meeting last week (which is a gathering of the major team leaders for each area of the event). I love those meetings because I experience teamwork at its finest. We could have teams that are consumed with their needs...disregarding the big picture or how other teams will be affected by their decisions. We are very lucky to have the exact opposite. Each team understands the delicate balance that must be maintained in order to provide the best guest experience possible. No one group can be elevated over the others. No decision can be made without the consideration of the effects on the rest. Every group is vital to the success of the event. Our end goal is always the guest experience, but how we cultivate that depends on each group sacrificing and buying into the vision.

Here is a picture of all the different groups that make up the overall guest experience:

Every group comes to the table with a different set of priorities and focus. This means we have to process each group's unique perspective and needs in order to best serve them:

• What are their specific needs?
• What are their expectations?
• How does their decisions affect the rest?
• What can they realistically provide? Or what can we realistically provide to them?
• How can we ensure they are successful?
• What can we do to make them feel valued?

Every group works together, every group affects the others and they are all "my" audience. My job is to ensure they come together as best as possible so that no one is overtaxed, everybody is resourced and most importantly, everybody feels valued. This is not a huge struggle because our teams already "get it" and are passionate about the end result. (How awesome is that?!)

Over the next two months, I am excited to see it all come together. It is always a wild ride up until event time. I love it. And I love our teams. They are great people with hearts that beat fast for resourcing other churches. Who could ask for anything better?

The countdown has begun...53 days until Innovate!!!